At
McLaren Racing, we believe only by chasing performance in everything we do can
we give ourselves the best chance of success. Performance on track and in
the factory. Performance for our people, our business and our
partners. It’s about more than winning. It’s about hitting the
highest standards, and then raising the bar again.
Purpose of the Role:
The purpose of this role is to analyse, engineer, and support business-critical software systems aligned with the requirements of McLaren Racing. As a senior member of the department, you will provide technical leadership on a range of software projects, contribute to initiatives beyond your own team, drive process improvement, and mentor less experienced team members.
Role Dimensions:
The Software & Data Science department is responsible for the analysis, design, and delivery of bespoke software tools and methodologies which help improve our Formula 1 car's performance. This starts with aerodynamicists submitting designs via the CFD Portal, through wind tunnel data acquisition, processing, and analysis, to simulation and car setup optimisation, to trackside operational decision-making tools such as race strategy. We are a cross-functional group, bringing together data science, machine learning, software engineering, and DevOps to deliver performance focussed platforms and solutions.
As a Lead, your role will combine elements of technical leadership, agile/lean project delivery, and stakeholder management. You’ll be involved in all stages of the development life cycle from initial analysis right through to deployment, monitoring, and support. With your involvement in systems architecture, you’ll balance the local view of specific stakeholder needs with the global view of software in Racing to build a cohesive application estate. In order to achieve success, you will need to lead, influence, and collaborate with stakeholders within the Technical department and beyond.
Due to the nature of track and tunnel operations, some flexibility to work out of office hours and weekends will be required. The role will be primarily based at the McLaren Technology Centre with a proportion of the time spent working from home.
Principal Accountabilities:
- Work closely with other leads and development teams to contribute to the department’s vision for software in Racing, ensuring that our software products are cohesive.
- Define the team’s technical roadmap, ensuring alignment with the priorities driven by the business / team manager. Planning a year in advance, while remaining flexible and adapting to changing circumstances.
- Make key decisions on technologies in the context of an agreed strategy. Oversee the technologies, tools and techniques used within the team, and promote standardisation across the department to optimise efficiency and re-use.
- Demonstrate the department’s Guiding Principles, helping to evolve them where necessary.
- Develop new ways of working which improve team effectiveness. Actively contributing to the process of continual improvement, with regard to self, team and systems.
- Drive delivery by ensuring that projects are accurately estimated and delivered to schedule.
- Develop and implement standards and procedures to aid in the development of high-quality software. Ensure that all engineers within the team understand and adhere to existing standards.
- Work closely with Racing colleagues to fully understand business processes and requirements to inform designs and ensure that requirements are met.
- Guide the team in finding the appropriate balance between building the right solution, building it fast, and building it right.
- Ensure that systems are supported in line with Racing’s needs.